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 was going on, another effort was made to effect a peaceful settlement of the difficulty. The leaders of the Taborites, the chief men of the city of Prague, and other persons of note tarrying in the city, met together, and drew up four articles, which, if guaranteed to them by the king, they would agree to make peace. These were the celebrated “Four Articles of Prague,” that afterwards played such an important part in the Hussite Wars.

These Articles were as follows:

I. The Word of God is to be freely preached throughout the Kingdom of Bohemia and Margraviate of Moravia.

II. The sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ is to be given in two kinds—bread and wine.

III. The priests and monks are to be deprived of their worldly goods and compelled to live a life of poverty, to serve as a pattern of humility to others.

IV. All crimes called mortal sins are to be punished according to the laws of the land, without any regard to the position of persons committing them.

These articles were sent for consideration to the Pope’s legate, but his reply was of such a character that the people saw that all further attempts for peace would be futile, and they therefore prepared for the coming struggle.

The forces of the allies were so stationed as to command all the highways leading into the city of Prague but one; and Sigmund determined to gain possession of that one, and, by cutting off all connection between the city and the country, compel it to surrender by starvation. But so sagacious a commander as Žižka was not unmindful of